History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time Part 10

"'Sir,--

"'It happened in casting parts for the new opera, Signor Beneditti conceived he had been greatly injured, and applied to the board of directors for redress. He set forth in the recitative tone, the nearest approaching to ordinary speech, that he had never acted anything in any other opera below the character of a sovereign, and now he was to be appointed to be captain of a guard. On these representations, we directed that he should make love to Zen.o.bia, with proper limitations. The chairman signified to him that the board had made him a lover, but he must be content to be an unfortunate one, and be rejected by his mistress. He expressed himself very easy under this, and seemed to rejoice that, considering the inconstancy of women, he could only feign, not pursue the pa.s.sion to extremity. He muttered very much against making him only the guard to the character he had formerly appeared in,'" &c.

A small and not uninteresting volume might be written about the caprices of singers and their behaviour under real or imaginary slights. One of the best stories of the kind is told of Crescentini, who, three-quarters of a century later, at the first representation of _Gli Orazi e Curiazi_, observed immediately before the commencement of the performance, that the costume of _Orazio_ was more magnificent than his own. He sent for the stage manager, and burning with rage, addressed him as follows:--

"_Perche_," he commenced, "avez vous donne _oun_ habit blanc a ce _mossiou_; et _che_ vous m'en avez gratifie _d'oun_ vert?"

It was explained to the singer that there was a tradition at the Comedie Francaise by which the costume of the princ.i.p.al Horatius was white and that of the chief of the Curiatii, green.

"_Perche_ la _bordoure rouze_ a un _primo tenore_, el la _bordoure_ noire a _oun primo virtuoso_?" continued the incensed sopranist.

"No one was thinking," replied the stage manager, "of your positions as singers; our only object was to make the costumes as correct as possible."

"Votre _ousaze_ et votre _ezat.i.toude_ sont des imbeciles," exclaimed Crescentini; "_ze me lagnerai_ de votre condouite envers moi. Quant a vous, _mossiou_ Brizzi _fate-mi il piacere_ de vous deshabiller _subito_ et de me faire pa.s.ser _questo vest.i.to in baratto dou_ mien que ze vais vous envoyer. _Per Bacco!_ non _si dira qu'oun tenore_ aura _parou miou vetou qu'oun primo oumo, surtout_ quand ce _primo virtuoso_ est Girolamo Crescentini d'Urbino."

An exchange took place on the spot, and throughout the evening a Curiatius, six feet high, was seen wearing a little Roman costume, which looked as if it would burst with each movement of the singer, while a diminutive Horatius was attired in a long Alban tunic, of which the skirt trailed along the ground.

[Sidenote: HANDEL AND HEIDEGGER.]

But the singers are taking us away from the Opera. Let us return to Handel, all of whose vocalists together, admirable as they were, could not save the Royal Academy of Music from ruin. After the final failure of that enterprise in 1728, the directors entered into an arrangement with Heidegger for opening the King's Theatre under their joint management. Handel went to Italy to engage new singers, but did not make a very brilliant selection. Heidegger, nevertheless, did his duty as a manager, and introduced the princ.i.p.al members of the new company to public notice in the following "puff direct," which, for cool unadorned impudence, has not been surpa.s.sed even in the present day. "Mr. Handel, who is just returned from Italy, has contracted with the following persons to perform in the Italian Operas, Signor Bernacchi, who is esteemed the best singer in Italy; Signora Merighi, a woman of a very fine presence, an excellent actress, and a very good singer, with a counter-tenor voice; Signora Strada, who hath a very fine treble voice, a person of singular merit; Signor Annibale Pio Fabri, a most excellent tenor, and a fine voice; his wife, who performs a man's part well; Signora Bertoldi, who has a very fine treble voice, she is also a very genteel actress, both in men and women's parts; a ba.s.s voice, from Hamburgh, there being none worth engaging in Italy."

I fancy this was an attempt to carry on Italian Opera at a reduced expenditure, for as soon as the speculation began to fail, the popular Senesino was again engaged. Handel had had a serious quarrel with this singer, but when a manager is in want of a star, and a star is tempted with a lucrative engagement, personal feelings are not taken into account. They ought to have been, however, in this particular case, at least by Handel, for the breach between the composer and the singer was renewed, and Senesino left the King's Theatre to join the company which was being formed at the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, under the direction of Porpora.

Handel now set out once more for Italy, but again failed to engage any singers of celebrity, with the exception of Carestini, whom he heard at Bologna at the same time as Farinelli. That he should have preferred the former to the latter seems unaccountable, for by the common consent of musicians, critics, and the public, Farinelli, wherever he sang, was p.r.o.nounced the greatest singer of his time, and it appears certain that no singer ever affected an audience in so powerful a manner. The pa.s.sionate (and slightly blasphemous) exclamation of the entranced Englishwoman, "One G.o.d and one Farinelli," together with the almost magical effect of Farinelli's voice in tranquilising the half demented Ferdinand VI., seems to show that his singing must have been something like the music of patriarchal times; which charmed serpents, and which in a later age throws highly impressionable women into convulsions.

[Sidenote: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.]

I have already mentioned that in going or returning to Italy this last time, Handel appears to have pa.s.sed through Paris, and to have paid a contemptuous sort of attention to French music. It is then, if ever, that he should be accused of having stolen for our national anthem, an air left by Lulli--which _he_ did not, and which Lulli _could_ not have composed. The ridiculous story which would make our English patriotic hymn an adaptation from the French, is told for the first time I believe in the d.u.c.h.ess of Perth's letters. But instead of "_G.o.d save the Queen_"

being translated from a canticle sung by the Ladies of St. Cyr, the pretended canticle is a translation of "G.o.d save the Queen." Here is the French version--

"Grand Dieu, sauvez le Roi!

Grand Dieu, vengez le Roi!

Vive le Roi!

Que toujours glorieux Louis victorieux Voie ses ennemis Toujours soumis.

If it could be proved that this "canticle" was sung by the Ladies of St.

Cyr, England could no longer claim the authors.h.i.+p of "_G.o.d save the Queen_," as far, at least, as the words are concerned; and it is evident that the words, which are scarcely readable as poetry, though excellent for singing, were written either for or with the music. M. Castil Blaze, however (in _Moliere Musicien_, Vol. I., page 501), points out that "_si l'on ignorait que la musique de cet air est, non pas de Handel, comme plusieurs l'ont a.s.sure mais de Henri Carey la version Francaise prouverait du moins que cette melodie, scandee en sdruccioli ne peut appartenir au siecle de Louis XIV.; nos vers a glissades etaient parfaitement inconnus de Quinault et de Lulli, de Bernard et de Rameau_."

[Sidenote: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.]

Mr. Schlcher, like many other writers, attributes "_G.o.d save the King_" to Dr. John Bull, but Mr. W. Chappell, in his "Popular Music of the Olden Time," has shown that Dr. John Bull did not compose it in its present form, and that in all probability Henry Carey did, and that words and music together, as we know it in the present day, our national anthem dates only from 1740. Lulli did not compose it, but it was not composed before his time, nor before Handel's either. The air has been so altered, or rather, developed, by the various composers who have handled it since a simple chant on the four words "G.o.d save the King"

was harmonised by Dr. John Bull, and afterwards converted from an indifferent tune into an admirable one (through the fortunate blundering of a copyist, as it has been surmised), that it may almost be said to have grown. What an interesting thing to be able to establish the fact of its gradual formation, like the political system of that nation to whose triumphs it has long been an indispensable accompaniment! But how humiliating to find that somebody marked in Dr. Bull's ma.n.u.script a sharp where there should have been no sharp, and that our glorious anthem owes its existence to a mistake! Mr. Chappell prints three or four ballads and part songs in his work, beginning at the reign of James I., either or all of which may have been the foundation of "_G.o.d save the King_," but it appears certain that our national hymn in its present form was first sung, and almost note for note as it is sung now, by H.

Carey, in 1740, in celebration of the taking of Portobello by Admiral Vernon.[24]

Handel did not compose "_G.o.d save the King_;" but he had good reason for singing it, considering the steady and liberal patronage he received from our three first Georges. When, after the expiration of his contract with Heidegger, he removed to Covent Garden, in 1735, still carrying on the war against Porpora (who removed at the same time to the King's Theatre), George II. subscribed 1,000 towards the expenses of Handel's management, and it was the support of the King and the Royal Family that enabled him to combat the influence that was brought to bear against him by the aristocracy. Handel, according to Arbuthnot, owed his failure, in a great measure, the first time, to the _Beggars' Opera_. The second time, on the other hand, it was the _n.o.bility's_ Opera that ruined him.

Handel, as we have seen, had only Carestini to depend upon. Porpora, his rival, had secured two established favourites, Cuzzoni and Senesino (both members of Handel's old company at the Academy), and had, moreover, engaged Farinelli, by far the greatest singer of the epoch.

Nevertheless, Porpora failed almost at the same time as Handel, and at the end of the year 1737, there was no Italian Opera at all in London.

Handel joined Heidegger once more in 1738, at the King's Theatre. In two years he wrote four operas, of which the fourth, _Deidamia_, was the last he ever produced. After this he abandoned dramatic music, and, as a composer of Oratorios, entered upon what was to him a far higher career.

Handel was at this time fifty-six years of age, and since his arrival in England, in 1711, he had written no less than thirty-five Italian operas.

[Sidenote: CAPABILITIES OF MUSIC.]

Handel's Italian operas, as such, are now quite obsolete. The air from _Admeto_ is occasionally heard at a concert, and Handel is known to have introduced some of his operatic melodies into his Oratorios, but there is no chance of any one of his operas ever being reproduced in a complete form. They were never known out of England, and in this country were soon laid aside after their composer had fairly retired from theatrical management. I think Mr. Hogarth[25] is only speaking with his usual judiciousness, when he observes, that "whatever pleasure they must have given to the audiences of that age, they would fail to do so now.... The music of the princ.i.p.al parts," he continues, "were written for a cla.s.s of voices which no longer exists,[26] and for these parts no performers could now be found. A series of recitatives and airs, with only an occasional duet, and a concluding chorus of the slightest kind, would appear meagre and dull to ears accustomed to the brilliant concerted pieces and finales of the modern stage; and Handel's accompaniments would appear thin and poor amidst the richness and variety of the modern orchestra. The vocal parts, too, are to a great extent, in an obsolete taste. Many of the airs are mere strings of dry, formal divisions and unmeaning pa.s.sages of execution, calculated to show off the powers of the fas.h.i.+onable singers; and many others, admirable in their design, and containing the finest traits of melody and expression, are spun out a wearisome length, and deformed by the c.u.mbrous trappings with which they are loaded. Musical phrases, too, when Handel used them, had the charm of novelty, have become familiar and common through repet.i.tion by his successors."

Among the airs which Handel has taken from his Operas and introduced into his Oratorios, may be mentioned _Rendi l' sereno al ciglio_, from _Sosarme_, now known as _Lord, remember David_, and _Dove sei amato bene_, in _Rodelinda_, which has been converted into _Holy, Holy, Lord G.o.d Almighty_. That these changes have been made with perfect success, proves, if any proof were still wanted by those who have ever given a minute's consideration to the subject, that there is no such thing as absolute definite expression in music. The music of an impa.s.sioned love song will seem equally appropriate as that of a fervent prayer, except to those who have already a.s.sociated it intimately in their memories with the words to which it has first been written. A positive feeling of joy, or of grief, of exultation, or of depression, of liveliness, or of solemnity, can be expressed by musical means without the a.s.sistance of words, but not mixed feelings, into which several shades of sentiment enter--at least not with definiteness; though once indicated by the words, they will obtain from music the most admirable colours which will even appear to have been invented expressly and solely for them. Gluck arranged old music to suit new verses quite as much, or more, than Handel--even Gluck who maintained that music ought to convey the precise signification, not only of a dramatic situation, but of the very words of a song, phrase by phrase, if not word by word.

[Sidenote: HANDEL AND OUR ITALIAN OPERA.]

During the period of Handel's presidency over our Italian Opera, works not only by Handel and his colleagues, but also by Scarlatti, Ha.s.se, Porpora, Vinci, Veracini, and other composers were produced at the King's Theatre, at Covent Garden, and at Porpora's Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. After Handel's retirement, operas by Galuppi, Pergolese, Jomelli, Gluck, and Piccinni, were performed, and the most distinguished singers in Europe continued to visit London. In 1741, when the Earl of Middles.e.x undertook the management of the King's Theatre, Galuppi was engaged as composer, and produced several operas: among others, _Penelope_, _Scipione_, and _Enrico_. In 1742, the _Olimpiade_, with music by Pergolese (a pupil of Ha.s.se, and the future composer of the celebrated _Serva Padrona_) was brought out. After Galuppi's return to Italy, in 1744, the best of his new operas continued to be produced in London. His _Mondo della Luna_ was represented in 1760, when the English public were delighted with the gaiety of the music, and with the charming acting and singing of Signora Paganini. The year afterwards a still greater success was achieved with the same composer's _Filosofo di Campagna_, which, says Dr. Burney, "surpa.s.sed in musical merit all the comic operas that were performed in England till the _Buona Figliola_."

Not only were Gluck's earlier and comparatively unimportant works performed in London soon after their first production at Vienna, but his _Orfeo_, the first of those great works written in the style which we always a.s.sociate with Gluck's name, was represented in London in 1770, four years before Gluck went to Paris. Indeed, ever since the arrival of Handel in this country, London has been celebrated for its Italian Opera, whereas the French had no regular continuous performances of Italian Opera until nearly a hundred years afterwards. Handel did much to create a taste for this species of entertainment, and by the excellent execution which he took care every opera produced under his direction should receive, he set an example to his successors of which the value can scarcely be over-estimated, and which it must be admitted has, on the whole, been followed with intelligence and enterprise.

CHAPTER VII.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE OPERA IN EUROPE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL THE APPEARANCE OF GLUCK.

Great Italian Singers.--Ferri in Sweden.--Opera in Vienna.--Scenic decorations.--Singers of the Eighteenth Century.--Singers'

nicknames.--Farinelli's one note.

[Sidenote: QUEEN CHRISTINA AND FERRI.]

Handel, by his great musical genius, conferred a two-fold benefit on the country of his adoption. He endowed it with a series of Oratorios which stand alone in their grandeur, for which the English of the present day are deeply grateful, and for which ages to come will honour his name; and before writing a note of his great sacred works, during the thirty years which he devoted to the production and superintendence of Italian Opera in England, he raised that entertainment to a pitch of excellence unequalled elsewhere, except perhaps at the magnificent Dresden Theatre, which, for upwards of a quarter of a century was directed by the celebrated Ha.s.se, and where Augustus, of Saxony, took care that the finest musicians and singers in Europe should be engaged.

Rousseau, in the _Dictionnaire Musicale_, under the head of "Orchestra,"

writing in 1754[27], says:--

"The first orchestra in Europe in respect to the number and science of the symphonists, is that of Naples. But the orchestra of the opera of the King of Poland, at Dresden, directed by the ill.u.s.trious Ha.s.se, is better distributed, and forms a better _ensemble_."

Most of Handel's and Porpora's best vocalists were engaged from the Dresden Theatre, but the great Italian singers had already become citizens of the world, and settled or established themselves temporarily as their interests dictated in Germany, England, Spain, or elsewhere, and at the beginning of the eighteenth century there were Italian Operas at Naples, Turin, Dresden, Vienna, London, Madrid, and even Algiers--everywhere but in France, which, as has already been pointed out, did not accept the musical civilisation of Italy until it had been adopted by every other country in Europe, including Russia. The great composers, and above all, the great singers who abounded in this fortunate century, went to and fro in Europe, from south to north, from east to west, and were welcomed everywhere but in Paris, where, until a few years before the Revolution, it seemed to form part of the national honour to despise Italian music.

As far back as 1645, Queen Christina of Sweden sent a vessel of war to Italy, to bring to her Court Balthazar Ferri, the most distinguished singer of his day. Ferri, as Rousseau, quoting from Mancini, tells us in his "Musical Dictionary," could without taking breath ascend and descend two octaves of the chromatic scale, performing a shake on every note unaccompanied, and with such precision that if at any time the note on which the singer was shaking was verified by an instrument, it was found to be perfectly in tune.

Ferri was in the service of three kings of Poland and two emperors of Germany. At Venice he was decorated with the Order of St. Mark; at Vienna he was crowned King of Musicians; at London, while he was singing in a masque, he was presented by an unknown hand with a superb emerald; and the Florentines, when he was about to visit their city, went in thousands to meet him, at three leagues distance from the gates.

[Sidenote: OPERA IN VIENNA.]

The Italian Opera was established in Vienna under the Emperor Leopold I., with great magnificence, so much so indeed, that for many years afterwards it was far more celebrated as a spectacle than as a musical entertainment. Nevertheless, Leopold was a most devoted lover of music, and remained so until his death, as the history of his last moments sufficiently shows. We have seen a French maid of honour die to the fiddling of her page; the Emperor of Germany expired to the accompaniment of a full orchestra. Feeling that his end was approaching he sent for his musicians, and ordered them to commence a symphony, which they went on playing until he died.

Apostolo Zeno, whom Rousseau calls the Corneille, and Metastasio, whom he terms the Racine of the Opera, both resided for many years at Vienna, and wrote many of their best pieces for its theatre. Several of Zeno's, and a great number of Metastasio's works have been set to music over and over again, but when they were first brought out at Vienna, many of them appear to have obtained success more as grand dramatic spectacles than as operas. During the latter half of the eighteenth century, Vienna witnessed the production of some of the greatest master-pieces of the musical drama (for instance, the _Orpheus_, _Alcestis_, &c., of Gluck, and the _Marriage of Figaro_, of Mozart); but when Handel was in England directing the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, and when the Dresden Opera was in full musical glory (before as well as after the arrival of Ha.s.se), the Court Theatre of Vienna was above all remarkable for its immense size, for the splendour of its decorations, and for the general costliness and magnificence of its spectacles. Lady Mary Wortley Montague visited the Opera, at Vienna, in 1716, and sent the following account of it to Pope.